F: Hello! So happy to have you here! The way you present yourself on social media is very mysterious... Can you share a bit about your life growing up and how it led you to start NUTEMPEROR?

N: Ha ha ha ha! Mysterious Orientals! When I first started making NUTEMPEROR, I just wanted it to be a fun brand... I just wanted to make witty things in general, not just limiting myself to clothes. This is pretty much in contrast with my own life, which is boring and my personality, which is rather boring too. I also have a little obsessive-compulsive disorder.

F: We're curious about the name NUTEMPEROR. How did you come up with it, and what does it mean to you?

N: The name comes from the monologue in "Hamlet".

"I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space."

When I saw this sentence at the time, I thought it was quite suitable for someone like me.

F: NUTEMPEROR embarked on a fascinating project back in June 2019. It started with the letter "Z" and moved all the way to "A," with each letter symbolizing a word that serves as a design inspiration. How did this system help you fight creative block and keep the ideas flowing?

N: It is a new beginning every time. It may be the change of my state of mind or the environment at that time, which prompts me to make a "choice". Each word will have a different story. I try to expand my understanding of the word and the experiences that I associate with it. This alphabetic approach is a very long term project, and I hope to get it done... we will see !!

F: One of my favorite collections from you is called Tremor. What inspired you to choose this word, and how does it translate visually into your designs?

N: This project is very personal to me. When I was young, I had a strange disease called "Hirayama disease". It's basically a form of limb muscular atrophy.

My hands would shake constantly, and it was even difficult to hold a pen in severe cases. So I really wanted to make a story about this disease that has been with me for so long. This disease is very rare, it seems that there are only a few thousand cases in the world. I want more people to pay attention to these marginalized groups. I tried many ways to translate this word into the design process: hand-weaving, rust dyeing, or twisting and dislocation the clothing pattern.. basically trying to achieve this trembling state.

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F: Your designs have become an integral part of Shanghai's fashion scene. If you were to host a Nut Emperor party in Shanghai, what would it look like? Give us a glimpse of the atmosphere and experience you would create for your guests!

N: We have organized parties before as well as DJ sets. A lot of our friends are DJs and VJs here in Shanghai it's not really a project that would have to be curated.. I can see it happening naturally.